In My Nature
by lakariana
Summary: A collection of stories fleshing out my ideas for the mysterious origins of Ezekiel Jones. Not based on any spoilers just my imagination.
1. Chapter 1: Nature

**Author's Note:** Hello new fandom. I hope you enjoy reading this. It's an idea I had after the first season and only just got round to writing down. Ezekiel has become much less 2D this season but while everyone revealed things about themselves he's still a mystery. Here's my idea for why.

...

For once everyone, including Flynn, was in the Library at the same time and everyone, including Flynn, was messing about in the annex, primarily because Jenkins was there trying to get some cataloguing done and they wanted to make sure he would miss them when they were away on the next mission.

Ezekiel could see it building, the tiny twitch right before the older man forcibly pulled himself upright and shouted at them. The young thief nudged Stone and nodded in their caretaker's direction, giving him a wide grin that was met with a more concealed smirk. The moment was broken by a loud thump, followed by several more which proceeded to become banging which shook the back door in its frame. They all stared at the ornate doors unsure about what to do.

"Someone is knocking on the doorway?" Eve asked. "Can people do that?"

"The door yes, it's just a door, but knowing which door to knock on? That's a different matter entirely." Jenkins said frowning.

"Well let's not keep them waiting. How often do we get visitors who are polite enough to knock?" Flynn declared as he bounded to the doorway.

"Wait," Baird shouted but she wasn't fast enough. Flynn threw open the door and found a petite woman glowering at him. She looked to be somewhere around her mid thirties and had dark wavy hair twisted up into a tight bun. She had a complexion that wouldn't look out of place in the Mediterranean and her face had a pointed nose and chin. Faint lines appeared at the corners of her eyes as she squinted into the room.

"Hello may we help you?" Flynn asked her breaking out his friendliest grin. She barely acknowledged his presence.

"Ezekiel, time to go," she said, her voice made Casandra shiver, it was like a hundred angry teachers and her parents scolding all rolled into one. She felt Stone stand straighter next to her, his hands forming fists unconsciously. They all turned to look at Ezekiel and were shocked to see him frozen in panic, not once in the face of any of the incredible foes and dangers they had battled, had they seen had his carefree facade broken. Cracked, maybe, but dropped completely? Never. However, one look at this tiny woman and he was terrified. Baird stepped between between the woman and her charges, protectiveness surging through her.

"Who are you?" She demanded. The woman didn't even flinch, as still as a statue she stared at Baird's chest right where she'd been looking at Ezekiel, as if she could still see him through her, or as if Baird was so inconsequential that she was rendered invisible.

"Am I going to have to repeat myself?" The woman asked. The threat in the warning was so palpable Baird immediately reached for her gun, which was not on her hip because she was in the annex, it was in her desk.

"No." Ezekiel's voice was barely above a whisper.

"I'm sorry, which statement are you referencing?" The woman asked, her voice dripping sarcasm.

"I'm not coming back, father can do without me. I have my own life." His voice gained some strength as he spoke but the fear was still there. Horrifyingly the woman threw back her head and laughed, it was harsh and insincere and when she dropped her face back there was nothing but cruelty on her features. Flynn took a step back and held his hands up as if to calm her down.

"I think he's given you his answer," he said.

"Yeah, so leave," Stone added showing his fists. The woman finally scanned them all, it made them feel like lobsters in a restaurant fish tank.

"Ezekiel," her voice became softer but the condescending tone remained. "We can't have lives, we are only fragments of a whole. Father wants you back and you cannot deny him, you are not meant to be alone."

"I'm not alone. I'm a Librarian Sonya, the Library chose me," Ezekiel said, the others silently cheering him on sending him supportive smiles.

"The Library collects magical entities and hides them away from the world," she replied.

"But-" Casandra started.

"It's also not above using those items for its own purposes," the woman, whose name was apparently Sonya, continued. She pointed a perfectly manicured finger at the dial up device by the door and raised an eyebrow at them. Flynn's mind was spinning, was she saying Ezekiel was a magical entity and not human? He looked at the young librarian and tried to see what he'd missed, some sign that he should have picked up on immediately.

"He _is_ a person," Cassandra said firmly, not liking what she was suggesting anymore than the others. She moved closer to Stone and Ezekiel so they bunched together.

"No, he's mischief, jokes and selfish childishness. He is a being made from our father's naughtiness, that is all." Her announcement was like a hammer falling. How many times had they asked him why he couldn't take things seriously? How many times had his attitude just irritated and got them scolding him for being inappropriate. _You just can't help yourself, can you?_

"And you?" Jenkins asked.

"Wait, wait let me guess," Flynn cut in circling Sonya like an appraiser at an auction. "Scorn."

"Disappointment," Cassandra added quietly.

"Irritation," Stone said joining in.

"Scorn?" Eve asked, stepping closer to study the woman. She looked normal, but she had to agree with the others, there was nothing nurturing about her. Whatever she was, she was sorely mistaken if she thought revealing their nature was going to make them abandon Ezekiel.

"Who better to send after a misbehaving child?" Sonya asked them with a shrug. "I must admit I am surprised, I was certain you would run and hide, but here you are standing bravely with your... compatriots. Almost makes me wish I could feel anything but contempt for you. Now, I'm going to count to three." They had all been on the receiving end of that threat at some point in their lives. They closed ranks around Ezekiel so focused on Sonya that they didn't see the look of surprise and amazement at their actions on his face.

"One," Sonya said her eyes on Stone and Baird. "Two." The eyes shifted to Jenkins and Flynn. Her tongue curled slowly against her teeth starting to form the last word as her eyes fixed on Cassandra.

"OK." Ezekiel stepped out from the group. "I'm coming."

"No," Baird said grabbing his arm tightly. She thought about the Ezekiel she met in the other reality, how he spoke of her like a mother. She wouldn't let him down now.

"It's OK really," Ezekiel said as he gently removed her hand. "She doesn't handle it very well if she doesn't get her way." Despite their protests he walked over to Sonya who wrapped her arm around his chest and turned him to face them.

"Say goodbye Ezekiel."

"Goodbye Ezekiel," he said, cheeky to the last. The door behind them went dark, the dial up machine stuttering as it fell silent.

"What?" Sonya demanded turning sharply to find Jenkins smiling at her.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "But if Michel Mauvais wants the fragments of his psyche back he can come and get them himself." She swung a fist at him snarling but Baird was already there and pounced on her exchanging a few strikes and knocking over a side table before getting the upper hand and restraining her arms tightly behind her back.

"What are you doing?" Ezekiel asked them.

"What were _you_ doing?" Cassandra returned, shoving him in the chest.

"Going back to where I belong." They all knew a lie when Ezekiel told one, he never really tried to hide it, reveling in blatant falsehoods instead, a trait that made more sense now.

"You thought you were protecting us," Stone said. Ezekiel shrugged noncommittally.

"What would happen to you if you went back?" Cassandra asked.

"Depends what father wants, I think I was responsible for him making some mistake so he removed me to stop it happening again." The wrongness of that whole statement had them lost for words for a moment. "I guess he wants me back, can't be having much fun without me," he finished lightly. Sonya snorted and Baird gave her a shake to remind her to shut up.

"And by back, you mean...?" Stone asked. Ezekiel made an odd gesture that looked like a mix between I don't know and I have heartburn.

"You'd go back inside him? You'd stop existing?" Baird asked horrified. Ezekiel and Sonya shared a look and said nothing.

"So," Flynn said tilting his head and poking Ezekiel's arm with a finger. "You're not really real?"

"I think therefore I am," Ezekiel replied, his familiar smart arse smile stretching across his face, although the others all saw the hurt in his eyes and noted the unusual absence of his full name in the sentence.

"We're basically human in flesh and blood," Sonya clarified. "We eat, we sleep, we die, our consciousness is just made from a piece of father rather than coming from wherever minds and souls normally come from. Not that he gave us souls." The bitterness in her voice actually made Baird feel a little sorry for her.

"So your father is this Michel Mauvais?" Stone asked them both.

"Michel Mauvais was one of the few alchemists to ever achieve the great tasks of alchemy." Jenkins announced.

"Wait, I know this," Stone said wagging his finger as if to jump start his brain. "Lead into gold, eternal life and artificial life."

"Ta da!" Ezekiel said waving his hands by his face.

"Life is one thing, sentience is another," Sonya sneered. "But it turns out even empty meat puppets have their uses." Ezekiel sniggered at the term meat puppets and Cassandra gave him a smack on the arm at his inappropriateness.

"Hey, I can't help it, it's my nature," he moaned.

"You are _not_ making jokes about this," she groaned.

"But that's who I am."

"No, who you are is my friend. Our friend. That makes you someone, not just a piece of someone."

"You're wasting your time. He's not capable of complex emotions. None of us are, aren't you able to comprehend? A true person has combinations of emotions and drives that we just don't have, no regret, no lust, no sadness... _no love_ ," Sonya growled, frustrated with their conversation.

"That's not true," Cassandra said, refusing to give up.

"She's not lying Cassandra," Ezekiel said softly trying to get her to understand. He was amazed they weren't more angry about it, he had kind of lied to them for months, about something pretty fundamental too.

"No I've seen it. You're capable of more than just, just..."

"Mischief?"

"Yes!"

"No," Sonya sing songed.

"You shut up," Baird warned.

"You did it just now," Flynn said.

"Did what?" Ezekiel asked.

"You were willing to go with Scorn over there and essentially stop existing just to protect us. That wasn't very mischievous, it wasn't even a bit naughty," he said triumphantly. Ezekiel looked confused.

"I didn't want you guys to get hurt. I'm not cruelty or maliciousness," he defended.

"Ah, ah. That was compassion, not something Mauvais put in you either is it?" Flynn asked. Ezekiel and Sonya both went still before sharing another look. They had some sort of silent conversation before Sonya rolled her eyes and shrugged out of Baird's grip.

"It's OK," Ezekiel said, nodding to Baird, who reluctantly let his "sister" go but stayed tense and ready to fight if necessary.

"Alright I can see I won't get anywhere here and I can't be bothered to argue about it. I'll just go and tell father you're not coming back," Sonya said dismissively. "Get your stupid door thing working."

"Anywhere in particular you'd like to go?" Jenkins asked with forced civility.

"London, somewhere in Bloomsbury," she replied. The door flashed as he input the direction and she stood in front of it arms crossed as if she'd already been kept waiting.

"Wouldn't it be something Sonya? If we could be whole people?" Ezekiel asked the back of her head.

"Careful Ezekiel," she replied over her shoulder. "Your hope is showing." Then without another word she jerked open the door and left. Ezekiel waited until the door powered down again before he blew out a long breath.

"Father will not be happy," he said turning to his team. "If it's time to go back I should probably go."

"Do you want to go back?" Baird asked.

"No! I love my life, I was just wandering around stealing whatever for the fun of it, then bam, I join you guys, become a Librarian and I started to feel like a real person." He looked embarrassed. "Not that I know what being a real person feels like."

"I think you'd be surprised," Flynn said dropping an arm around his shoulders. "Now before anyone says anything else you have to tell us, how old are you really?"

"Ten."

The room exploded into questions but Ezekiel Jones only laughed.

….

 **Author's Note:** Michael Mauvais was a real alchemist I found in a quick internet search.

We still know the least about Ezekiel's past, so what if he doesn't have one? His character development has been really interesting this season (even though the most significant got deleted) and some of his lines: " _I'm not your friend, but you're mine." "My anonymity, I have no ties to anything or anyone in the real world."_ were pretty heart breaking, also both the devil and his happy ending mentioned wanting to be free and see the world, so that must stem from something. Here's hoping for next year.

Thanks for reading. Please leave a review and let me know what you think, it's truly amazing to hear from readers.


	2. Chapter 2: Fiction

**Author's Note:** All my muse can think of these days are back story ideas for Ezekiel Jones (I saw an interview where John Kim said they have planned it and it's interesting, they just haven't had time to film it) So, I gave in and decided to put them together as a collection.

Thank you so much for all the reviews and favourites for my first chapter. I hope you enjoy reading this, it's set after season 2.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from The Librarians or any recognisable work of literature. These stories are just hopeful ideas.

…..

"What's all this then?" Ezekiel asked Cassandra as he and Stone entered her new lab in the library.

"It's a fictional finder," Cassandra declared jumping on the spot as she waved a wooden box with pieces of metal sticking out of it at them. The two men waved their heads up and down as they tried to focus on it before Stone lost his patience and grabbed it out of her hand.

"A what?" He asked studying the device in his hand.

"You remember the ghost lights?" Cassandra asked running straight into her explanation without waiting for their answers. "Jenkins said they absorb emotions and life from performances in the theatre and well they got me thinking, they give off light and life energy. The light is obvious but the life energy? What actually is that?"

"And so you made a bunch of doohickies to try and measure that life energy?" Ezekiel guessed moving to look at the thing in Jake's hand. Stone offered it to him but the thief shook his head and stepped away.

"Exactly! And this one worked! And then I realised I could use it to sense fictionals too. I mean they are essentially the same as ghost lights right? They come to life because they're so well written and well known, the ambient magic and everyone thinking about them poofs them into existence."

"That's so wrong," Ezekiel said firmly.

"No she's right," Stone said showing him the device she'd made.

"No. I don't mean the theory, I mean sensing fictionals," the thief snapped back. "Not every character is evil. There must be ones out there getting on with their lives without bothering anyone. Why should you be scanning for them. What if you find one? What are you planning to do with them? Destroy them? Lock them away in the stacks forever like every other magical _thing_ we find?"

Cassandra shrank back under his sudden burst of anger.

"Hey calm down. What's your problem?" Jake asked jumping to Cassandra's defence. "When did you become the defender of the fictionals? When did you become the defender of anyone but yourself?"

"Hey, I've been a librarian just as long as you. I've saved the world," the thief replied.

"Under duress maybe, or maybe you just don't wanna lose access to a magic back door that let's you into any bank you want," Jake scoffed.

"Is that really how little you think of me, mate?" Jones asked, his voice a strained mix of anger and hurt. Stone opened and closed his mouth unable to think of a way to respond to his normally flippant colleague. He waved the fictional finder as he searched for words and the thing started beeping happily.

"Hey," Cassandra exclaimed, taking it from him. She studied it for a minute frowning. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Jake replied. "I was just holding it."

"You turned it on," she scolded. "Maybe it still has some gremlins to work out, unless you or Ezekiel is actually…" her voice faded as her eyes widened and she met Jake's equally shocked face. They spun to where Ezekiel had just been standing but he was nowhere to be seen. Cassandra raised her fictional finder and its beeping grew louder as she pointed it towards the Annexe. The two librarians shared an amazed look before running after their missing thief.

The backdoor was humming to life as Cassandra and Stone charged in, Ezekiel had his hands on the door but seemed to be frozen, eyes closed debating with himself.

"Wait Ezekiel please," Cassandra gasped as she skidded to a stop.

"What for?" came the irritated reply.

"I'm sorry man," Jake said sincerely. "You can't just leave."

"Because I'm a prisoner?" Ezekiel asked.

"No!" Cassandra said horrified by his resigned tone. "We just...we had no idea...after all... everything with Prospero. You never said anything and…"

"And?" he prompted finally turning to study them.

"And…who are you?" She asked, the question almost bursting out of her. She accidentally pointed the fictional finder at him and the loud beeping drew all their attention before she fumbled it off.

"I'm Ezekiel Jones," he answered his eyes narrowing at her. "I may have mentioned it before, once or twice."

"Come on man," Jake said stepping forward. "I would have recognised you if that was your real name."

"Maybe you don't know everything after all," Jones replied sarcastically.

"No," Stone said gently, stepping forward again. "Fictionals come from famous old stories, stories people don't even have to have read to know about, characters everyone recognises instantly. That's what gives them life." The thief rolled his eyes.

"Like Moriarty?" he asked.

"Yes, like Moriarty," Stone agreed.

"And look what happened to him." Cassandra and Stone both froze, they'd never seen Ezekiel so serious.

"Baird said he gave his life helping them in the end," Cassandra said carefully.

"Yeah?" Ezekiel said. "I also heard her say he was never really real, that he was just from a story."

"I don't think she said it like that," she said quietly.

"Wasn't exactly sad that he died though was she?" Jones pointed out.

"Hey," Stone jumped in. "You wanna talk about our opinions about each other? You really think that we, that _me and Cassie_ , will start thinking of you as what? Inconsequential? Now we know you're-"

"Not a real boy?" Ezekiel cut in.

"Yeah, make jokes," Stone growled getting angry. "I'll admit, I've wondered why the Library sent you an invite, you're disrespectful and unrepentant and have absolutely zero respect for other people's property. But despite that, we've become a team. I trust you to have our backs. I trust you with my life. That's not going to change just because you came into the world from a book rather than the, you know, normal...way."

"Yeah, me too. I think that too. You're our friend Ezekiel," Cassandra said covering Jake's awkward finish. The young thief stood back and studied them carefully, he still had one hand on the back door and Cassandra knew if he left they'd never see him again. The thought sent her heart pounding uncomfortably. He let go of the door and crossed his arms.

"Alright mates," he said his familiar smile of mischief spreading across his face. "But I'm not going to tell you. You can have three guesses."

Cassandra jumped forward pulling him away from the door, too relieved to think about his identity. Stone however was determined to get it right. He squinted at Ezekiel and opened his mouth before shaking his head and pacing, muttering to himself. The thief smirked at him and gave the red head next to him an inquisitive look.

"Ali Baba?" She tried.

"Does he look like he's from Arabian Nights?" Stone asked exasperated.

"Slightly racist mate," Jones criticised. "But correct, that's not it." Cassandra shrugged.

"That's the only famous thief I can think of," she said apologetically.

"I don't know whether or not to be offended," Ezekiel laughed.

"I'll get it," Stone grumbled from where he was pacing.

"Jack Dawkins," Jenkins voice announced from the mezzanine. The three librarians turned in surprise. Their caretaker strode down the stairs his head tilted in expectation. "Better known as The Artful Dodger," he clarified when he was met with silence.

Stone groaned in frustration and Cassandra squealed as she jumped at Ezekiel and spun him to face her.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah," he shrugged, giving Jenkins a look of mock annoyance. Had he always known?

"Dickens! Of course you are, of course you are," Stone exclaimed. "The running away and the swagger and the attitude and the over confidence and wearing clothes that are too big for you."

"We don't all need everyone to see our muscle definition through our shirts. My clothes fit just fine and _overconfidence_? I think you'll find it's _exactly the right amount of confidence."_ The thief corrected.

"And being Australian," Stone continued excitedly, ignoring the jab at his own style.

"Shouldn't you be English?" Cassandra asked.

"He gets caught stealing at the end of the book," Stone supplied smugly. "A snuff box isn't it? Gets sent to the penal colony in? Australia!"

"OK, OK. I bow to your knowledge of Victorian literature," Jones sighed. "So, is this going to be a _thing_ now."

"Jenkins is an immortal knight from the round table," Stone pointed out. "We live and work in a dimension defying magical library, who was a person for a while. I meant what I said before. I don't care where you come from." Cassandra nodded vigorously beside him and Jenkins offered a quiet smile of support before he disappeared into the back room.

"Don't worry, if you don't want Baird and Flynn to know, we won't tell them," Cassandra said.

"It's OK, I guess," Ezekiel replied. "They might as well know now you do."

"So Dodger," Stone said. "Consider yourself at home." Ezekiel groaned loudly and went to open the back door but Cassandra grabbed him and stopped his dramatic exit by pulling him into a hug.

….

 **Author's Note:** I hope you enjoyed this idea. I have a couple more ticking about in my head. Leave me a review and let me know what you thought or if you have any ideas of your own.


	3. Chapter 3: Past life

**Author's Note:** I loved the idea of fictionals in The Librarians universe so I thought I'd have a go at writing one. This is set after 2x05 And the Hollow Men. Please leave a review and let me know how I did. There's some H/C and possible triggers in this, just to warn you.

 **Disclaimer:** The fictional is not my original creation, this is just my imagining of him. Cottingley is the family name of the girls in the famous fairy hoax photographs. Richard Dadd is a real fairy painting painter.

Thanks, hope you enjoy reading.

…..

Cassandra's fingers were white she was holding his hand so tight. If he'd been awake Ezekiel would definitely be complaining about it, but he wasn't. He was lying cold and still on the ground and so she just clenched her hands tighter around his, trying to ignore the numbers and graphs flying in front of her eyes, calculating the rate his breathing was decreasing, how long until his slowing heart beat would be insufficient to keep his brain alive.

Jake came bursting through the door the paramedics right behind him and she leapt away to give them space. Stone's arm wrapped around her waist in a move way more forward and intimate than they'd ever been before but Cassandra didn't pull away. She leaned into his solid alive form and watched as the medics shoved a tube down their friend's throat.

…..

Cassandra stared at the sheets of paper on the clipboard. The hospital waiting room noise caught on her every nerve and the lights were way too bright. His name, that's all she'd been able to fill in. Her pen hovered over the space for his blood type, hadn't they all had to learn that much about each other? The tip floated back up to the line demanding date of birth and she groaned before admitting defeat and hooking the pen under the clip. She had so little time in this life she knew it wasn't fair to let people build attachments to her but it was quite possible she'd been too successful at holding her friends at arm's length.

"It's the fourteenth of February nineteen ninety," said a voice at her shoulder. Cassandra jumped and turned to see a middle aged man in a dark suit standing behind her. Her face bunched into a frown as he dropped into the chair next to her and pointed at the mostly blank paper in her hands. "Born on Valentine's day, very poetic isn't it?" He smiled.

"I'm sorry I don't think-"

"Ezekiel Jones," he stated nodding at the paper again. "You're one of the people that brought him in right?"

"She is and I'm the other one," Jake's gruff voice cut in. "Who are you?" Cassandra scrambled up to stand next to her fellow librarian, who put down the two coffees he had returned with so he could cross his arms. The man relaxed back into the chair and held his hands up in submission.

"Sorry," he said, "Special Agent Leroy Fix, FBI. I'm the lead agent in Ezekiel's hunt."

"His hunt?" Jake asked.

"Of course, you think a high end art thief like him doesn't have a dedicated task force after him?" Fix watched with open interest as the two people in front of him blinked in surprise and then rolled their eyes. "Although he has been suspiciously quiet these last months, I was worried our resources were going to get cut," he continued conversationally. "You know, the staff here tell me you're his _work_ colleagues."

"Oh no," Cassandra hurried to explain. "I mean yes, we work with him but we don't steal things, well...no. He works with us, really." Fix twitched an eyebrow at them.

"So what is it you do? If you don't steal things?" he asked, fixing them with his stare. "You were all in the museum when Jones was incapacitated weren't you?"

"Yes," Cassandra said overly brightly, pushing the image of Ezekiel falling bonelessly to the ground from her mind. "That's because… "

"We're librarians," Stone supplied. Fix raised both eyebrows.

"So you're about to tell me Jones has been off the radar because he's going straight? Is he going claim to be a librarian too?" he scoffed.

"He _is_ one," Cassandra declared. Fix chuckled although his eyes never left their faces.

"You know," he said between laughs. " If I didn't know that little git so well I'd think you were trying to play me. But I know Ezekiel Jones only ever works alone so you two can't be in on anything with him and if you were then you're lucky I've come along before he inevitably betrayed you."

Stone clenched his hands into fists at his sides as he fought not to respond to the agent's insults. It was fine for them to criticise Jones' life choices but not some random FBI agent to do it. Talk about trying to play people. Fix was obviously still trying to decide how they were linked to Ezekiel and was attempting to get a rise out of them. He had to get Cassandra away from him. Thankfully he heard a familiar whoosh and saw the edge of the white flash as the back door opened behind them and Baird and Jenkins stumbled into the waiting room.

"Stone," she shouted as soon as she saw them. "What the hell? Jones said this would be an easy job."

"Colonel Baird," Stone replied loudly. "This is Special Agent Fix, he heads up the task force to find famous art thief Ezekiel Jones." Baird gave her two librarians an exasperated glare before focusing on Fix.

"That's ridiculous," she told him. "Ezekiel has worked with us for months and he's never stolen anything from us. You're obviously after some other Jones." without another word she stomped over to the reception to demand information on her absent charge.

"Now that's the reaction I was expecting," Fix said his piercing eyes scanning with deliberate slowness from Baird's back over to Cassandra and Jake. "She's obviously done this before." Cassandra's mouth dropped open in outrage but it was Jenkins who answered.

"I don't like your tone sir, are you trying to imply something?" he said. Fix pasted a smug smile on his face.

"Another librarian?" he asked.

"No, I'm the caretaker for the library," Jenkins replied.

"Which library?" the agent asked, eyeing the older man's perfectly tailored suit.

" _The_ Library," Jenkins replied haughtily. He looked up as Baird waved them over. "Now unless you wish to begin things in an official capacity we will be on our way." He motioned for the two librarians to go ahead of him and kept his eyes pinned on the special agent as they left the waiting area for the treatment rooms. Agent Fix waved pleasantly and pulled out his cell phone.

….

"Crap," Stone hissed as they trooped down the corridor to the room the hospital staff had moved Ezekiel to. "How did the damn FBI get here so fast?"

"We should have used a fake name," Cassandra moaned. "It didn't even occur to me."

"It wouldn't have occurred to any of us," Baird said soothingly. "Now explain what happened." Everyone turned expectantly to Stone who backed away.

"Hey don't look at me. I was looking at the Victorian fairy paintings, there was an amazing Richard Dadd, anyway Mister Master Thief could apparently lift the page with his eyes closed and didn't need any help from amateurs," he complained before remembering where they were. "They were having a spat," he finished regretfully, waving his hand at Cassandra.

"We were not," she replied.

"You were," he returned. Baird prayed for strength, if something was really wrong with Ezekiel these two were only going to get worse.

"Ezekiel was just being himself, complaining that it was too easy and I was telling him not to complain. That's all," Cassandra defended.

"It sounded like more than that," Stone said.

"He wouldn't let it go," Cassandra replied sounding frustrated.

They arrived at the room Baird had been directed to and she immediately opened the door, fully expecting to see Ezekiel Jones' smug face laughing at them all.

"I am never letting any of you out of my sight again," she said as they stared in numb shock at the still figure half buried under tubes and wires. She stepped up to the bed almost on autopilot, cataloguing all the familiar features, hoping to spot one inconsistency that'd reveal this lifeless form wasn't her youngest librarian. He looked so small.

"Hello?" The doctor stood in the doorway a look of empathy fresh on his features. "I'm Doctor Wall. You're Ezekiel's work colleagues yes?" He asked as he stepped inside.

"Yes, we're his friends," Baird said, stepping forward to shake his hand. "What's wrong with him?"

"Ah, I can't really discuss anything if you're not family," the doctor apologised.

"He doesn't have any family," Cassandra exclaimed. The doctor shifted uncomfortably.

"The most I can tell you is that he is very unwell. We're treating him for a suspected infection but we're still running tests. You were with him when he collapsed, anything more you can tell me?" They shook their heads. "Well if you can contact his family, it'd be best." He gave them a last sympathetic nod and left.

" _Very unwell,_ " Stone grumbled sarcastically "We can see that for ourselves." Cassandra had replaced Baird next to Ezekiel her hand twitched to hold his again but the wires taped to it made her scared of hurting him, so she gripped the bed rail instead. Jenkins gave her a pat on the shoulder and adjusted the collar of the thief's hospital gown.

"Cassandra?" Baird called over, lifting his chart from the end of the bed. "Can you make sense of any of this?"

The petite woman nervously picked up the chart studying the notations and then comparing them to the various monitors that were surrounding their friend. She bit her lip and screwed her hands together before flicking them outward trying to logically assess the numbers flying before her eyes and leave the emotional consequences behind.

"It's not good, he's in respiratory arrest so he's not breathing for himself. That's what the tube in his mouth and those machines are doing. The pump over there is giving him a drug that forces his body to keep his blood pressure up but if it doesn't stay up his organs will start failing. And they, they don't know what's causing any of it." She gave a small squeaking gasp as she finished, her cool facade cracking. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the young thief, still hoping this was all an elaborate prank.

"The Cottingley page did this?" Baird asked her voice sounding harsh amongst the machine beeps despite being half her usual volume.

"Impossible," Jenkins said shaking his head. "The Cottingley page has no inherent magic of its own. It's merely a recipe for summoning fae folk, one that was best not on display for anyone to see and get ideas about using."

"Which is why the clippings book sent us to get it," Stone sighed.

"No," Cassandra said, "The clippings book didn't send us. Ezekiel saw it advertised as part of the exhibition and asked Jenkins about it." Baird frowned looking to Jenkins for confirmation.

"Yes," the caretaker nodded. "Apparently he still checks all the new and planned exhibits, something left over from his previous profession." They all hoped it was a left over, but the man himself was repeatedly telling them he would always be a thief.

"So what happened?" Baird asked her remaining two librarians again.

"It must have been the page," Cassandra said firmly. "Everything was fine, apart from his complaining, until he touched it and then he just collapsed."

"Where's the page now?" Jenkins asked.

"That's the thing, it disappeared, like it melted into his hands," Stone said with just as much emphasis as Cassandra. "Sounds pretty magical to me." Jenkins could only frown, unable to offer another explanation despite what he knew to the contrary.

….

Stone slumped against the vending machine as he fed his coins into the slot. With a loud clink the coins fell straight through the machine to land in the return change slot and he stooped to pick them out and push them back in, listening in defeat as they fell straight through again. A surge of frustration at his helplessness swamped him and he slammed the palm of his hand against the machine. Why did everything have to be so unfair? With a merry jingle a few more coins fell into the hopper the sound echoed by a familiar chuckle.

"Here Mr Stone, let me get that for you," Fix said as he leaned over and popped some coins into the machine, which of course it accepted without complaint. Jake gave the FBI agent a blank look neither thanking or rejecting him and punched the numbers in for his coffee.

"So," Fix continued. "The doctors tell me they have no idea what's wrong with Jones. You have any ideas?" Jake willed the trickle of brown liquid to speed up.

"I'm not a doctor," he replied gruffly.

"But you were there when it happened," the agent pointed out.

"We were just looking at the exhibit and then he collapsed." Fix made a show of pondering that statement.

"You know you're all very kind for hanging around," he said finally.

"What do you mean?"

"Well he's dead to the world," Fix smirked, emphasising _dead_ with a click of his tongue. "He won't know if you're here or not. You've only been work colleagues for a few months, yes? You've probably put in enough of a show of sympathy." Stone clenched his jaw tightly shut and didn't say anything. "Is it because he doesn't have any family? There's no need to feel responsible for him. That's the bureau's job."

"Your job you mean?" Stone scoffed before mentally slapping himself for talking with the slimy man. Fix's eyebrows twitched in amusement.

"It's telling isn't it, the only person who really knows him in this world is the man who wants to see him locked away from it." Stone grabbed the coffee as the machine finally clicked to signal it had completed dispensing. Fix relaxed back against the machine as the librarian walked away. "Unless he's told you anything about his past?" He called out. Stone could feel the smirk burning into the back of his head as he resolutely continued walking. It wasn't until he got back to Ezekiel's room he realised that he'd never told Fix his name.

…

"We need to sort out that creepy FBI agent," Stone stated as he re-entered Jones' room. "He's still fishing for information but I think he's been investigating _us_ too."

"What do you mean?" Baird asked.

"He knew my name and I know I didn't tell it to him," Stone clarified, collapsing onto one of the plastic visitor chairs.

"That's a problem," the guardian agreed. "But there's nothing we can do about it right now. Just keep up the wall of silence. He can't do anything if he has no evidence." The room's other occupants didn't look all that relieved, although their gloomy outlook was also focused on their still comatose teammate.

….

Baird valued patience, as she was always telling Flynn, taking the time to properly plan and then execute said plan would never be a bad thing. Then again planning and executing were still activities. This was the opposite of an activity, what everyone was doing right now could only generously be referred to as waiting and the longer they waited the more likely the event they were waiting for would be a tragic one.

She was going to call time on the sitting by Jones' bedside and send everyone back to the Annex to research but, just as her mouth opened, Cassandra had started crying. She'd been completely silent but the tears had started running down her face and her shoulders were shaking and Stone had given her a hug and Jenkins had handed her a handkerchief and Baird had found herself telling them that Jones would be angry to know they'd all given up on him. " _Ezekiel Jones will not be beaten by a sheet of paper."_ That'd earned some rueful smiles and she decided they could do with seeing that he wasn't getting any worse for just a little longer.

She couldn't stay in the room though. She was his guardian, they liked to say she was only Flynn's technically but she'd helped train them. She'd spent so many missions with them. She was the guardian for all of them, so why hadn't she been with them on this one? Why had she smiled as she waved them through the door? Why hadn't she known something bad would happen? Why hadn't she protected him? He wasn't getting worse, but he wasn't getting better either.

"Ah Colonel, I was hoping to get a chance to speak to you."

Oh yes, that damn agent. He must have camped himself outside Jones' room. Baird straightened her back and shook off her self doubt. The enemy must never see your fears. Turning smoothly she kept her face carefully blank as she looked pointedly down at Fix. The agent shifted nervously under the scrutiny but smiled up at her all the same.

"It must be distressing to find that your… team had been infiltrated by a character like Jones," he continued. Baird made a show of sighing.

"What is distressing," she said. "Is that my friend who I have worked with for months is lying in a coma for no apparent reason and some FBI agent feels this is a good opportunity to harass the rest of my team." Fix backed away waving his hands.

"No harassment meant, if it has come across that way I can only apologise," he said. "But you must understand, finding Ezekiel Jones with concerned work friends doesn't fit his profile. It was shocking."

"Shocking?" she asked. Damn, wasn't she just telling the other's not to engage with this guy?

"Ezekiel Jones was unique," Fix said, his eyebrows twitching in a way that must have been involuntary because otherwise it was completely inappropriate, much like his use of the word _was_ , which Baird refused to react to. "He's not the only high end thief I've tracked and one key thing they all do is hide their true identity. Cute nicknames and disguises, that sort of thing," the agent explained happily. "Because they have homes and friends and families, they don't want me pitching up one sunny afternoon and wrecking it all. Ezekiel Jones doesn't even switch off the bloody security cameras half the time. He strolls in in the middle of the day, not even a hood on, in front of how many guards?"

She'd never really thought about it before but her youngest librarian did have a bad habit of flicking between loud and attention starved to silent and sneaky almost randomly.

"The profilers could only surmise that he just didn't care because he had no family, friends or home. No regular supply store to log his purchases, no neighbours to notice his comings and goings, no people in the pub to recognise his face on the news as that guy who lives down the road. We couldn't even find a regular fence he uses. Yet, here he is with you as part of your team."

"Maybe you need to reassess the quality of your profilers?" Baird replied. "Do you actually have a question for me in all this Agent Fix?"

"I think you've answered it Colonel, thank you," he said smugly. Baird plastered on a fake smile and disappeared back into the hospital room.

….

Everyone looked much more collected, but it would have to be a cold day in Hell now before Eve left Ezekiel alone with that creepy FBI agent lurking around.

"That agent is waiting right outside the door," she declared as soon as the door shut behind her. "He seems to think he's got us figured out." She gave them all a smirk. As if he'd have any ideas that were even close. Then again an FBI agent poking around could only lead to trouble. She turned to Jenkins. "The Library must have had this sort of problem before, what's the protocol? I bet he's already applying to have us formally investigated...although."

"Although?" Cassandra asked.

"Why isn't he in here? He should have taken control of this whole situation already. Has he even been in to confirm Jones' identity yet?" Baird moved to check Ezekiel's hands, but in this age of fingerprint scanners it was unlikely they'd have left smudges.

"He must have come in when Jones was first getting assessed," Stone said, although he didn't seem convinced of his own words.

"There's something not right about this Fix guy," Baird said, running over her conversation with the man and what the others had told her. It wasn't just that he was unprofessional, he didn't seem interested in actually apprehending Jones. Shouldn't some uniformed backup have turned up by now?

"I'm sorry," Jenkins piped up. "Did you say Fix?"

"Yeah that's that guy's name. Agent Fix," Stone said.

"Fix? Fix," Jenkins mumbled to himself. The rest of the team crowded their caretaker, matching expressions of concerned anticipation on their faces. "He's a fictional!" he exclaimed, before starting at how close they had all gotten to him and moving away.

"What?" Stone asked running through his archive of knowledge for the reference.

"Detective Fix. Eighty Days Around the World. He mistakes Phileas Fogg for a thief and literally follows him around the world," Jenkins explained.

"He must be working for Prospero," Baird stated.

"Why would Prospero send a fictional after Ezekiel?" Cassandra asked.

"A hostage librarian? It's not the first time it's happened," Jenkins replied sadly.

"Ezekiel said it was too easy," Cassandra said quietly.

"And Fix was waiting for us at the hospital," Stone added.

"So this whole thing was a trap," Baird clarified grimly.

"And one it seems tailored to catch Mr Jones," Jenkins agreed.

"Why Ezekiel?" Cassandra asked again.

"I actually have a couple of theories about that," Jenkins said looking slightly embarrassed.

"Well, go on then," Baird prompted the older man as he shifted slightly side to side.

"Well, these are just suppositions, related to his young age and...his poor qualifications," he continued.

"He doesn't have any qualifications," Stone interrupted.

"Exactly," Jenkins said pointing at him. "Normally librarians are highly educated with higher education if not further postgraduate knowledge. I'm not trying to lessen Mr Jones' skill or accomplishments but he is something of an anomaly. If outside parties were to analyse the situation they may regard him as something of a-"

"Weak link," Baird cut in.

"To put it bluntly," Jenkins agreed. "And for all intents and purposes if this is a trap, it has sprung effectively."

"What's your other idea? You said you had a couple," Cassandra reminded them.

"Ah, that's a little more far fetched although somewhat related," Jenkins winced. "There is a slim possibility Mr Jones was a librarian... before."

"Before? Before he was a thief? Was he like five years old?" Stone asked incredulously.

"Well no, there has actually been a previous librarian called Ezekiel Jones. He was the librarian before, the librarian before, the librarian before Mr Carsen," Jenkins explained.

"So you think Jones is what? A reincarnated librarian?" Baird asked.

"Actually no one knows what happened to the former Ezekiel Jones, he just disappeared," Jenkins replied.

"So you think Ezekiel _is_ this former librarian, like aged down?" Baird asked, disbelief clear on her face.

"It's just an idea, but he did disappear around twenty five years ago," Jenkins said with a shrug.

"What? No! That's ridiculous," Baird said rejecting the idea before she could allow it to take root in her mind.

"It might explain why he received his letter at such a young age and why the Library believed him to be a suitable candidate despite his unorthodox background. Maybe Prospero is hoping for something of a two for one deal?" Jenkins suggested. They fell silent again, minds blown as they considered the possibility. Baird shook the thoughts off first.

"We can wonder about Jones' possible... previous...history once he wakes up, which we are going to work out how to do now," she commanded.

"Right," Cassandra agreed, pleased to be working through the problem instead of helplessly standing at the sidelines. "If it was a trap, the point mustn't have to kill Ezekiel, even if he's just Ezekiel and not the other Ezekiel," she said awkwardly. "Or why bother sending Fix?"

"To make sure he really dies?" Stone asked flatly but Baird and Cassandra shook their heads.

"This is a weird way to go about it. Prospero has enough problems controlling Moriarty, he'd wouldn't waste energy on another fictional unless he really needed to," Baird said. Jenkins nodded vigorously.

"Yes, besides there are far more efficient ways for a being like Prospero to kill someone. Even if he's forced to use Shakespeare's stories there are plenty of poisons and drafts which...drafts," he repeated, staring into space as something occurred to him. "Juliet."

"Juliet? Like Romeo and Juliet?" Baird asked.

"Yeah," Stone joined in twigging onto what Jenkins was thinking. " _Like death, when he shuts up the day of life; Each part, deprived of supple government, Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death. And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death, Thou shalt continue,_ " he recited perfectly. "Juliet takes a drug that makes it appear like she's died, no pulse, no breathing, no warmth, but it's all fake."

"But she just wakes up in the play, they don't do anything to her," Cassandra pointed out biting her lip.

"So, maybe we just have to wait this out," Baird said hopefully. Hearing their cue the monitors all started alarming. The team were moved out of the room as nurses and doctors rushed in. Baird tried to keep her eyes on Ezekiel but a sad looking nurse closed the door in her face.

Cassandra was frightened and her synaesthesia kept sparking up whenever a word of jargon or a blare of electronic beeping filtered out of Ezekiel's room. She felt Eve wrap a strong arm around her shoulders and pull her in close, holding her steady and on her feet.

Stone stood rigidly next to Jenkins, he glanced at the girls and saw Cassandra taking comfort from Baird, looking up at their caretaker he saw the grim face of someone who'd been through this many times before and who had already come to terms with the inevitable outcome. Jacob Stone hadn't prayed in a long time, and he doubted Jones would appreciate it, but he sent the silent prayer out to anyone who'd listen. Then the room beyond the door went silent. The staff had turned the machines off. A few nurses left, carefully avoiding eye contact as they passed the team. Pressed against the wall with the others Baird could hear Cassandra whispering.

"This is just pretend, it's just a spell," she repeated to herself.

Baird looked up and down the corridor but there was no sign of Fix. Dr Wall exited the room, making sure to close the door before they could look inside.

"Let's move to the family room," he said.

…..

Dr Wall was depressingly good at breaking bad news. If the group hadn't decided that Ezekiel was under a spell and not really dead they would definitely have felt comforted and supported.

"One last thing," he said regretfully as he got up to leave. "You met that FBI agent, Fix?" They nodded. "He's demanding to have Ezekiel's body taken to a federal mortuary. I have made it clear that you are to have time with him first, but I'm not sure how long I can hold him off."

"Does he think Mr Jones is going somewhere?" Jenkins asked annoyance dripping from his voice as he subtly probed the doctor for information.

"That's actually exactly what he thinks," the doctor said, sounding just as annoyed. "He actually tried to convince me that Ezekiel had faked his death to get out of custody before and could try again. Anyway, you should be able to return to his room as soon as you're ready." He gave them a last sympathetic smile and left.

….

"You faked your death to escape the cops?" Stone hissed in exasperation as soon as they re-entered Jones' room. They didn't expect him to respond, but found themselves waiting just in case. The nurses had removed all the equipment and tucked Ezekiel in with the blankets pulled up to his shoulders. He'd never looked so childlike. The effect was spoiled by how totally lifeless he appeared.

There was no evidence that anything had happened to him, he could have died peacefully in his sleep. Cassandra again had to shake away the image of how he'd crumbled to the ground midsentence in front of her. Sometimes having photographic memory really felt like a curse. She reminded herself that this was just another spell, no matter how things looked. It had to be.

"You were right Jenkins, this is about taking Ezekiel away," Baird said decisively, breaking the horrible still quiet that had fallen in the room.

"We'll steal him first then," Stone declared. He gave Jones a smile knowing the thief would have found this situation hilariously ironic.

"What?" Cassandra asked, trying to push away her anxiety and keep up with everyone.

"The back door can open right into this room. We load up all the monitors in case we need them and wheel him into the Annex," Stone explained.

"What if we're wrong?" Cassandra asked quietly. "What if he's just... dead?" Stone faltered for a second glancing between the man on the bed and the rest of the room.

"That's more reason to take him with us rather than let that creep take him," he replied nodding to the hall where Fix was probably waiting.

"But-" she started again.

"Nope," Eve interrupted, stepping between them. "No. The more I think about it the less sense it makes to send Fix unless they have to get Ezekiel somewhere in a narrow time frame and why would they need to do that if he's dead? And all that crap he's been spouting is him trying to get us to leave. Jones is going to wake up and they don't want us around when he does."

"So I'll go with Jenkins and we'll try to move the back door in here," Stone said but Baird wasn't paying attention to him, frowning at Jones' still form lying on the bed instead.

"Colonel Baird?" Jenkins asked coming up beside her and trying to get her attention. "You think we should let them take him," he guessed when she didn't answer.

"What?" Stone demanded, sure he'd heard wrong.

"We're sailing blind here, more than usual," their guardian said, turning to face them. "Why go to all this effort? Why Ezekiel? What if they try for one of you next? What if it's Flynn? He's running around on his own out there, we might not even realise if he gets into trouble."

Stone clenched his teeth together to stop from saying something he'd regret. He'd never suggest the Colonel was valuing one librarian's life over another, even if she used to be in a relationship with one of them, but that didn't stop the thought popping into his head.

"We can't just hand him over like some sort of bait," Cassandra protested.

"Not bait, more like a tracker. We follow Fix when he takes Ezekiel and find out where Prospero is and maybe what his plan is," Baird explained. The others still looked upset. "Come on librarians, you have an entire magical library at your fingertips, you really have no way to track one thief?"

"We may be able to use the ley line maps, if we put something on it we know the magical signature of, an insignificant but loud item, maybe the brooch of Casanova? We can dedicate a map to that signature and trace its path," Jenkins said looking to Cassandra for confirmation. She nodded reluctantly.

"We can't let anything happen to him. I mean more than it has already," she said.

"We won't," Baird reassured her. "I don't like this either, believe me, but it's our best play right now."

…

Fix had actually waved to them as he'd loaded Jones into the back of a hearse. Eve had nearly thrown her plan out the window to run over and punch the arrogant bastard in his twitching face. The slamming car doors were like thumps to her chest as she forced a solemn flat expression onto her face.

"Eve?" Cassandra asked as the vehicle pulled away.

"Yeah?"

"If Fix was just a fictional Prospero created, how did he know Ezekiel's birthday?" Baird just stared at her blankly.

…

Eve Baird never thought she'd be relieved to find out she'd been talking to a fake FBI agent. As soon as they'd got back to the Annex she'd been on the phone chatting up old bureau and NATO contacts trying to get information on Agent Fix. No one had ever heard of him and possibly even better only the assistant director of the Art Crime Team at the FBI was interested in Jones. Baird had had to hurriedly get off the line as the AD started asking difficult questions. The Library didn't have a landline that could be traced, did it? She released a breath of relief and looked at her remaining team members, their heads were close together as they watched the ley lines map.

"If he was a real FBI agent and there wasn't anything magical going on, why would Jones just collapse?" Stone was asking Cassandra.

"Well the previous Ezekiel Jones was around fifty when he disappeared, seventy five is a reasonable age to suffer-" Jenkins started to explain.

"Stop right there, Jones is not dying of old age at the age of twenty five," Baird declared, rising from her desk to join them.

"Confirmed?" Cassandra asked recognising the look of victory on her guardian's face.

"Confirmed," she said smiling. "There is no Agent Fix at Art Crimes or anywhere in the FBI." They all smiled maybe things were actually looking up?

"The brooch is still moving," Jake told her his eyes fixed on the sparkling lights on the large map spread out in front of them.

"Wait, there," Cassandra pointed at an area with no names but large rectangles. "I think he's just pulled into a building."

"Must be a warehouse in some industrial district," Stone said studying the markings and comparing them to Google maps on his phone.

"Can we go get him now?" Cassandra asked.

"Yes, let's go get our thief back."

….

Rejoining the land of the living was actually a pleasant experience for Ezekiel Jones, like waking up after a long lie in. What wasn't pleasant was the place he woke up in. The grey concrete only heightened the cold dampness in the air. He hadn't slummed in a place like this in a long time. It was all ancient ruins and high culture museums most days, speaking of which, hadn't he been in a museum a moment ago?

He kept himself still, straining to hear if there was anyone else around. Distant traffic, something dripping, birds singing, no footsteps or voices. Deciding he was alone he slowly eased himself upright trying not to rustle the sheets he was lying under. Wait, was he in a body bag? Discretion flew out the window as he scrambled out of the thick plastic and fell backwards onto the ground, his body immediately seizing up in pain. It felt like he'd been kicked in the chest, repeatedly. His throat was burning like it'd been rubbed raw and he felt a trickle down his neck. His hand came away with blood and as he stared at the red staining his hand, he noticed several needle marks on his wrist. What the hell had happened to him?

Clamping his palm down on the bleeding point on his neck he climbed carefully to his feet and a horrible cold sensation swept over him. He discovered he was wearing some sort of ineffectual gown which did very little to cover him let alone keep out the cold. Noticing a sheet poking out of the body bag he risked pulling it out so he could at least have something wrapped around his bottom half. It was thin and starchy and shouted hospital budget cuts.

The sun was rising and enough pale light streamed through dirty broken windows to let him get a proper bearing. He'd woken up on a trolley next to a fantastically creepy hearse, which had been parked at the western end of an empty warehouse. The only feature was a small area that had been partitioned into what was probably an office. The place felt more like a cave than a building.

The hearse's door popped open and Ezekiel grabbed the trolley yanking it between himself and the thin, suited man who pulled himself out of the front seat. He made a big show of stretching and cracking his neck before facing the thief and giving him a smug grin. Great, as if this couldn't get worse. Police. Ezekiel had a pretty good success rate at avoiding members of law enforcement and a large part of that was recognising them before they recognised you. He hadn't gone near the security guards at the museum, having timed their arrival perfectly, when had the cops turned up? Hadn't Stone and Cassandra been with him? Were they somewhere round here too?

The policeman's smugness wavered a little when Ezekiel didn't immediately start demanding answers. Another big part of avoiding incarceration? Always let them start talking first, no need to risk mentioning something that no one but you knew about.

"I don't know why you're glaring like that," the police guy said. "At least you had a bed to sleep on, of a sort." He laughed to himself and his eyebrows twitched at Ezekiel who scrunched his face up in disgust. "I'm going to feel stiff all day."

"I'm pretty sure lying half naked in a random warehouse contravenes a couple of my human rights," the young librarian replied, adjusting his grip on the sheet. "What did you do to me? What kind of operation are you running mate?"

"You gave up your human rights when you decided to live your life as a criminal and this lovely location was chosen by my employer," came the sneered reply. Ah, ex-police working for some shady private employer, Ezekiel reasoned. This was rapidly getting worse and worse. He had to get out of here. The guy chucked a large carrier bag at the trolley between them and the shoes and clothes Ezekiel had been wearing spilled out.

"Make yourself presentable," ex-cop demanded. "He'll be here soon." Okay, so that meant he had to get out of here soon, but he wouldn't risk leaving without Cassandra and Stone.

"Where are my friends?" he asked bluntly as he struggled quickly into his trousers and shoes, deciding to cope with the gown for his top half rather than lose sight of the man in front of him.

"Friends? Friends," ex-cop tapped his chin as if thinking very hard. "I have no idea who you mean." The man leaned weirdly to one side as he pulled a face of extreme concentration. He laughed at some private joke and stumbled slightly as he stepped forward. Ezekiel took an involuntary step back but kept his hands on the trolley between them.

"I wouldn't go expecting them to rush to your rescue," ex-cop continued grinning slightly manically. "I might have told them a few tall tales that had them thinking they'd actually never been your friends. Oh! And they think you're dead."

As he leaned closer Ezekiel got a whiff of something sour on his breath. He had been drinking, and not a small amount. Drunk people were sloppy people and if he'd spent time trying to convince Stone and Cassandra he wasn't worth rescuing that meant they weren't trapped here with him. Things were finally looking up. Without wasting anymore time Ezekiel shoved the trolley hard into ex-cop's gut. He folded with a surprised grunt and Jones was already halfway to the door.

His chest was screaming but he ignored it to push himself faster. He was a foot away when the door flew open and he skidded to change direction aiming for the little office and possible shelter not even looking to see who had arrived. Then something hit him in the middle of his back and every nerve ending was on fire. His muscles spasmed as he lost control slamming into the ground. He was distantly aware that he was screaming but he couldn't focus and get his body under control.

The shocks disappeared but the pain in his chest was too much to aggravate further, so he just lay on his side and tried to slow his breathing. A pair of dark shoes under a dark cloak appeared before him. Prospero crouched down and studied him with a deep frown.

"Detective!" he barked. "What is the meaning of this?"

"He took me by surprise," ex-cop moaned, still holding his guts.

"Perhaps your wits would be sharper if you had not drunk yourself into a stupor," Prospero growled. Ezekiel heard the other man shuffling around and then the creak of the hearse's chassis as he sat down. Prospero let out an irritated breath. "Would that my powers were sufficient to control a character of less weakness," he muttered.

"Just can't get the staff eh?" Jones half gasped.

"Librarian's and their inappropriate humour," the sorcerer said shaking his head. He used the tip of his staff to push Ezekiel onto his back. "Do you wish for your pain to end? I can do this thing," he offered. Ezekiel might play off his young face and overly flippant attitude but you didn't get far in his business by being a fool.

"I know even wishes come with a price," he replied.

"Tis but a small magic to relieve your suffering, so all I would ask for in return, is a location," Prospero said with false sincerity.

"Location of what?" Ezekiel asked. He should probably be putting more effort into the banter but it hurt too much to breath at the moment.

"A wand," the sorcerer said, leaning over to look down into his face. "A wand carved from the tree of knowledge."

"So you _are_ having problems with your staff," Ezekiel cut in, cheekily smiling back up at him as he glanced suggestively at the tall stick the fictional was leaning on. Prospero's eyes flashed with anger before he pulled back his control.

"If you recall, my servant discovered your team with a cash of magical relics from your library. Although he allowed you to make off with the items, you left many documents behind," he explained. "Amongst them I discovered a diary. A diary that mentions a wand of knowledge, which was given away to a soul deemed worthy by the Librarian. A librarian, by the name of _Ezekiel Jones_."

"Hey, that's my name. Please tell me it was a beautiful girl's diary."

"This diary was written in 1983," Prospero continued ignoring the comment.

"Well then, don't feel too embarrassed but I wasn't even born then. So it's not me mate. Unless this is some premonition thing. In which case I still have no idea what you're talking about," Ezekiel said, feeling pleased he'd managed the whole speech without gasping. He might even try sitting up next.

"Do not attempt to hide the truth from me. Your name is too rare for such a coincidence," Prospero yelled sending blue sparks flying from his staff into the helpless man on the ground. That's the end of sitting up then. The thief curled into himself trying to escape the pain and wondered if his screams were actually making any noise.

"Hey, steady on there," a slightly slurred voice said.

"Fool detective!" Prospero shouted. There was a clatter and the pain faded again. Ezekiel pried his eyes open and found he was sadly still on his back on the filthy ground of some warehouse but the furious sorcerer was no longer paying attention to him but was struggling with the policeman. Faking deaths and kidnap are OK but torture crossed a line apparently.

"Fye, damned enforcer. Your efforts are as pointless as your character. Do you know how many adaptations you've been written out of?" Prospero snarled.

"What?" ex-cop asked completely confused.

"I am lucky I have no further use for you."

With that last pronouncement Prospero pulled a book from his cloak and threw it down at the other man's feet as he whispered an incantation. Ex-cop's body gave a sickening judder and he turned a shocked face to Ezekiel in time for him to watch it disintegrate into inky swirls which flowed into the pages. The book snapped shut and Prospero didn't even stoop to pick it back up. Whirling back around the insane wizard raised his staff, the blue, undoubtedly painful, magic already sparking at its end.

"Now Librarian, you will give me the knowledge required," he promised.

The door banged open and before Prospero could do little more than express surprise a loud gun report sounded in time with a kick of gravel at his feet. Ezekiel tilted his face and was rewarded by one of the most beautiful sights of his short life.

Colonel Eve Baird stood with her gun at the ready, sunlight making her hair glow as she glared with full strength at the sorcerer. Cassandra was slightly behind her but glaring with no less power, her skirt ruffling around her thighs in the breeze as her bright eyes zeroed onto Ezekiel's sprawled form on the ground. Her voice called out his name and she actually sounded upset for him. Stone was there too.

"Step away from him," Baird commanded.

"How are you here? No matter, the little librarian has something to tell me. Do not fear, once he does I will return him to you," Prospero said through his teeth. He lifted his staff and it glowed with threatening magic.

"No," Baird replied. "You can posture all you want but we all know if you were actually able to take us on you would have already." Her stance didn't waver, meeting Prospero's gaze straight on. She saw his decision flash across his face and moved just in time to push the others out of the way as a blast of magic hit the ground where they had been standing. As the dust cleared she got nods confirming Stone and Cassie were OK and careful moved to the cover at the door. Leaning quickly around the frame she hummed in anger. Prospero had disappeared, but her youngest librarian was lying on the ground with his face turned away.

"Ezekiel," She called out, scanning the huge room for threats while trying to keep her other librarians from entering the room before it was cleared. He'd been moving when they'd first arrived hadn't he? He had _not_ died because she had willingly given him to the enemy. "Jones," she called again desperation edging into her voice.

"Please Mom, just five more minutes," he moaned. She rolled her eyes and motioned to the others that it was safe. They flew in like they were shot from a cannon.

"Oh God, you're alive," Cassandra gasped as she collapsed onto her knees next to her fantastically alive teammate. Ezekiel felt fingers on his neck and batted them away frowning at Baird who only grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse there instead.

"Yeah, I'm alive, hence the moving and talking," he said sarcastically, before remembering what ex-cop had said. "Oh right, that guy told you I was dead right? Nah, I'm OK."

"He didn't just tell us you were dead, he… you know it doesn't matter. You're here now. I'm actually glad to see you Jones," Stone said. The cowboy crouched down and patted him solidly on the shoulder.

"Yeah mate, I'm actually glad to see you too," Ezekiel said half smiling.

"Tell me what hurts," Baird demanded, all business.

"My chest feels like a horse kicked me, my throat hurts and I look like a pincushion." Jones listed obediently. The _don't hide injuries_ speech had been one of first ones their guardian had drummed into them when they were still in training. The Colonel winced.

"I think poor Dr Wall really tried to save you, don't worry, some rest and I'm sure you'll be fine." She looked at his teammates as she said it though. Who was she trying to reassure here?

"Who's Dr Wall?" he asked.

"We'll tell you once you're back at the Annex," Baird said. "Can you get up?"

"Is the back door near by? Like a couple feet away?" he asked. She shook her head.

"I might need a couple minutes then, he hit me with his magic lightening thing and it really knocked the stuff out of me." Baird's face transformed into what Ezekiel secretly referred to as her worried mom face and she nodded and settled onto the ground the other side of Cassandra before noticing his bleeding neck and pouncing on the wound. If Ezekiel didn't know better he'd think she looked guilty.

"What did he want?" Stone asked.

"He thought I was a librarian from the eighties. Wanted me to tell him where I'd hidden some powerful wand. What? Why are you staring like that?"

"How did he know?" Stone asked out of the side of his mouth to Baird.

"He didn't _know_ anything he read my name in a diary from Ray's container," Ezekiel answered in annoyance.

"This diary said you were a librarian in the eighties? What did it say exactly?" Baird asked.

"I don't know I haven't read it. Although…my thief's brain tells me if it's so important Prospero probably kept it close so he could check my information." He waved towards the little office and Stone moved away to investigate.

Cassandra had Ezekiel's hand squeezed tightly between hers, it was kinda uncomfortable but weirdly it was actually making him feel better so he didn't say anything and shifted into a more comfortable position instead. She made a move to let go but he kept his fingers tight preventing her. He didn't meet her eye but he could feel her smiling at him. Baird finished tutting at all his injuries and stuck a plaster on his neck.

"You had a plaster on you?" he asked.

"After working with Flynn for a couple weeks I realised it was best to always have a couple on me. You won't believe how quick he is to stick his hand into random holes," she replied. Ezekiel opened his mouth to make a terrible comment about hands and holes but Cassandra stuck her own hand over his mouth before he could and he decided to shut up before driving the girls to abandon him. If he wasn't feeling so lousy he naturally wouldn't of cared.

"Hey!" Stone shouted over. "This place is full of documents about the library." Baird gave a last long look at Ezekiel before she left to join the art historian in the office.

"You're really OK?" Cassandra asked quietly.

"Of course, better than OK. I'm Ezekiel Jones. I'm awesome." He sat himself up to prove his point but his chest ached horribly and a grunt of pain escaped and ruined the effect. Cassandra's slim arm wrapped around his shoulders and helped him balance.

"Yeah I can see that. So, did you tell him anything?" she asked. Her face was so close to his her breath ghosted his cheek and distracted him from being offended by the question.

"Nah, I only just woke up a bit ago and he started straight in with the zapping. Not that I could tell him anything. I wasn't around in the eighties." Cassandra bit her lip and didn't say anything, her face however, said a lot. "You guys aren't buying into all this crap are you?" he asked exasperated.

"No," she replied unconvincingly.

"That policeman said you ate up a bunch of his lies. You need to work on your gullibility," he sighed. "Thank you by the way, for rescuing me."

"Of course. We wouldn't just leave you," Cassandra replied in surprise. He wasn't sure how to explain to her that he'd never had anyone to come to his rescue before. Thankfully he didn't need to as Stone and the Colonel returned.

"We'll need to come back and get this stuff. I think it's everything that was left in Ray's container," Stone said as he rejoined them.

"No diary we could see though," Baird said. "Come on Jones. Let's get you off the cold ground."

"He might have had it on him, not that I care. That ridiculous diary has caused me enough trouble," he told them as all three helped him stand.

"Jenkins actually has something to tell you about how ridiculous it might be," Baird said. "let's get back to the Annex and we'll talk about it."

"It's making me nervous that you keep saying that," he complained.

"Ezekiel?" Cassandra asked as they slowly walked out into the sunshine. "Were you born on Valentine's day?"

"Is Valentine's day in August? Because if not, no," he replied.

Cassandra beamed a big smile at him and hugged him tight around the shoulders, carefully avoiding his chest. He thought it was sweet worrying about him had driven her mad.

…..

 **Author's Note:** So idea number three. The more Jenkins talks about all the Librarians dying, the weirder it seems that the library sent an invitation to a teenager. If you're confused about Ezekiel's injuries they are from the CPR and central line.

Thanks for reading. Please leave me a review, it's great to know what you all think of these ideas.


	4. Chapter 4: Neglect

**Author's Note:** No reviews for the last chapter, gotta admit, little bit heartbreaking. This one is only short but I hope you all like it a bit more.

Thank you to those who have reviewed and to everyone who has read, favourited and followed this collection. I really do appreciate it.

….

"How much Shakespeare do you actually know? Is it just the very well known plays? What about Merchant of Venice? As you like it? Julius Caesar?" Jenkins asked the youngest librarian after once again coming up against a hole in the young man's knowledge while discussing Prospero's schemes.

"Is there a movie?" the thief asked, his sincerity only making Jenkins groan in despair.

"Mr Jones, not everything, if anything, can be learned from movies. Moving pictures were created as an entertainment for the masses, and granted there have been efforts to lift them to a higher standard but the majority remain over dramatised gaudy affairs with no subtlety or pathos," the caretaker lectured.

"OK OK, I was just asking," Jones said. "You know not all of us had tutors or governesses or whatever you had back in the good old days. Some of us just got left alone all day with the TV and a cheese sandwich. The silence in the Annex was like a physical weight.

"You can stop that right now. I don't feel sorry for myself so there is no reason for anyone else to," Ezekiel said over his shoulder to where Stone stood frozen in the doorway.

"I… I wasn't-" he stumbled.

"Yes you were," the thief said turning to face him. "So I didn't go to school? So what? I ended up in exactly the same place as you. The Library thought I was just as good a candidate for this job even without all your online degrees." Stone pulled a face but wouldn't let himself be put off by Jones' snide comments.

"Your parents never sent you to school?" Jenkins asked, carefully keeping his voice even. Jones shrugged.

"They must have done at some point. I can read and I know my time tables by heart and everything," he said with his usual flippancy.

"But social services must have-" Stone started.

"They have to know you exist or maybe they did and they were just crap. I don't know, I was like eight years old," Ezekiel interrupted shrugging again. Jenkins saw the thief's eyes and body shift almost imperceptibly towards the back door, checking his escape route.

"Well then, you have always been correct Mr Jones, we don't give you enough credit. You have achieved much more than many would have in your position," Jenkins said proudly. Ezekiel backpedalled away a look of extreme discomfort on his face.

"Don't be like that. That's worse than his pity. You want to know how I achieved my _position_? I got bored. So I worked out how to pop the window and I broke out. Being outside in a desert is just as boring as being inside. So then I broke into the neighbours'. That was fun, seeing all their different things. Then I got hungry so I nicked some stuff from a shop. Then I wanted this pellet gun they had in there, but it was behind the counter so I stole some money from this old lady's bag and I went and bought it. And so on and so on.

"And here you are today," Jenkins said.

"And here I am today," Ezekiel agreed. The silence fell again. "Ah! I'm out of here." He practically vaulted the table, his phone already in his hand dialling up the back door. With a whoosh he was gone.

"Mr Stone," Jenkins said formally, walking right up to the art historian. There weren't a lot of people who could physically intimidate Jacob Stone but Jenkins was definitely one of them. "Although we were hardly secluded in private I don't believe Mr Jones wanted you to hear that. I would appreciate it if you didn't disclose any of what was said."

"Don't tell the girls. Got it," Stone replied.

"Don't tell anyone. In fact, forget you ever heard it," came the stern reply.

"Yeah, OK. Hey, you and Jones are actually pretty close huh?"

"We understand each other."

"That's good. I'm glad."

The older man hummed a mixture of agreement and warning and tilted his head to indicate Jake should leave now, which he did.

…..

 **Author's Note:** Bit depressing but sadly this one actually has evidence behind it from the show.

1x08 and the Heart of Darkness

" _Colonel Baird, Eve, if I may. I have never asked for anything in my life. Please, let me have this."_

Could be just referring to how he just takes what he wants but is odd how he says _in my life_. Children are always asking for things unless they have no one to ask.

1x07 And the Rule of Three

" _High school's like prison find a crew to run with and keep the other crews down."_

" _Which crew were you in?"_

" _Is that supposed to do that?"_

" _No I mean were you a goth, a geek or a cool kid?"_

Lack of answer here, either because he thought she was asking about prison or because he never went to high school.

His explanations for things always use television and movies as evidence. Stone and Flynn often criticise him for not knowing anything about history, especially things people normally pick up at school.

Anyhow, despite how short it is, I hope this one was OK. Please leave a review and let me know, even if you think I'm way off the mark.


	5. Chapter 5: Envelopes

**Author's Note:** I liked the basis for this so much I gave Cassandra and Stone a little moment each too.

Thanks so so much for all the reviews last chapter. They really cheered me up and got the muse singing.

Let me know how I did with Flynn this time, his over the top way of speaking is tricky to get right.

….

"How did you manage to get covered in fairy dust? You know what? I actually don't want to know," Jenkins said as he turned his back on the three junior librarians. "Do _not_ get any dust on anything in the Annex," he shouted as he left. Eve Baird sighed at their caretaker's lack of help. Flynn was bouncing around still buzzing on adrenaline from their last trip through the backdoor. The creepy fae marionettes they had collected were sitting innocently in their box on the table. Who would have imagined the chaos the symbolic representations of fairies were capable of. Turning away from her energetic partner she glanced at the other librarians just in time.

"Jones!" the thief froze half bent over a chair. "Jenkins said not to touch anything, that includes the chairs," she ordered.

"I'm tired. We just ran from a entire shop of evil puppets and I feel terrible," he moaned. Eve raised her eyebrows in surprise. Ezekiel was not above complaining but admitting to being less than awesome was a rarity.

"Actually, I'm not feeling great either," Cassandra said leaning heavily on Stone, whose eyes were drooping.

"It's the magic of the fairy dust," Flynn said rejoining the group. "You're fighting its influence and it's tiring you out. Should we scrape it off? Wash it off? No, whatever we touch with it might...oh I know. We need to use it."

"Use it?" Baird asked. "Flynn," she said her voice full of warning at his mischievous smile.

"No, no," he dismissed. "It'll be nothing like last time. I promise." The junior librarians gave the pair a worried frown at that. "Something small and insubstantial, I mean intangible. Do I mean intangible? Oh I know. The All Seeing Eye. Mr Jenkins," he called to the back room.

"On its way Sir," floated Jenkins' voice.

"What are you doing?" Ezekiel asked suspiciously.

"Just a tiny little spell but big enough to use up the magic before you all pass out from exhaustion," Flynn said waving his hands to ward off further questions as he rummaged for and then found a book on the main table. "Right here it is, Gaelic I love that, now all we need is…"

"Here. The all seeing eye," Jenkins said as he appeared beside him a large smooth blue jewel in his hand.

"Right. Now we need something to see. Nothing too embarrassing. Something we all already know but don't know. I got it. Stand in a line in front there. Eve you stand with me. Jenkins?" Flynn rattled off as he arranged everyone in a sort of semicircle.

"No, I'll stay over here, thank you," the caretaker said from the far side of the room, although he didn't move to leave this time.

"And I thought you were a scientist. Where is your sense of intrusion?" Flynn asked.

"Intrusion?" Stone demanded stepping forward only to be waved back into position between Ezekiel and Cassandra.

"Now you lot, concentrate." Flynn raised his hands high into the air and the blue stone drifted from his palm and floated at the centre of the group. Flynn nodded encouragingly and started reciting. "We are but mortals who wish to see the past. We wish to know and understand. We wish to see the moment each of these Librarians first received their white envelope."

"What?"

"What?"

"No!"

The desperate cries were swallowed by a loud humming as the jewel exploded into a bright white light that bleached out everything in front of their eyes.

...

The light and humming faded and it took everyone several seconds to re-orientate themselves and rub the spots from their eyes. The sight wasn't that different when they did, with white walls and harsh halogen lighting. The only area of colour was a fragile looking Cassandra sitting on a hospital bed. Her red hair stood out against her surroundings and highlighted the paleness of her skin. She was opening a small stack of get well cards, placing them one by one onto her bedside cabinet after her eyes flicked over the contents. Her fingers paused as she reached for the last envelope, a bright white rectangle they all recognised.

Her hands trembled slightly as she slipped her thin fingers under the flap and pulled out the card.

"What's that?" an older woman with Cassandra's hair and eyes suddenly reached out and snatched the invitation from her hands. She scowled at the calligraphy writing on the card.

"The Metropolitan Public Library? What are they thinking sending this to you?" the woman asked without looking up at Cassandra. "We had such dreams for you Cassandra and now the best you get offered is a public service job at some library? And you can't even do that. Look at you. We have to get a second opinion, whatever that doctor is giving you is just making you sick." She didn't even pause as she tossed the card and envelope into a nearby trash can. "Don't make faces dear, what have I told you about making faces like that. You wouldn't have got the job anyway. Who wants a librarian who hallucinates? You would only shelve everything wrong…" the scene faded to white with Cassandra's mother still talking. They hadn't heard Cassandra say one word.

The next scene was much darker, a small studio style apartment with almost utilitarian essentials, apart from a beautiful roll top desk, half hidden behind a screen in one corner, that was piled high with papers and books. It must be night time as they could see car headlights skate past the blinds from the road outside.

A click sounded behind them and the room burst into light, spinning around they saw Jacob Stone stooping down to pick up the post from his door mat. His jeans and shirt were spattered with dirt and he looked bone tired. He leaned against the wall as he shuffled through the bills and spam, stopping at the bright white envelope that stuck out from the others.

Tossing the rest, he opened the invitation and read and then re-read the card. His hand came up and he ran his fingers through his hair dislodging his hat from his head and onto the ground. He didn't even notice, still gazing at the card's golden writing.

"What in the world," he mumbled to himself. Checking the envelope and seeing it only bore his name, his eyes drifted towards the group of observers and checking behind them they realised he was gazing at his desk.

The quiet was jarringly broken by a cell phone's shrill chirping. Stone hesitated for half a second before propping up the invitation card on his side table and pulling out his phone.

"Henry, this had better be good," he said into the phone. "What? I literally just left there man, how could-" They couldn't hear Henry's words but the high volume and panicked edge to his voice did make it out of the phone.

"OK, OK," Stone said, somehow looking even more tired. "Where's Dad?" Whatever Henry said it put a deep frown on Stone's face. "It's OK man, I get it. No, no you did the right thing calling me. I'll be right there." He hung up with a heavy sigh, rubbed his hand over his face and left. The door banged shut and the large white card lost its precarious balance and fell, disappearing between the table and the wall, then their view was blinded by the now familiar white light.

The next scene was daylight again. A bare room with a plain metal table and chairs and old brick walls painted white. A large warehouse style window took up one wall, silhouetted in front of which, was a man in a dark suit, his back facing the room. He looked like he was admiring the view of boats sailing on a large river outside.

A door to the side of the room jerked open and a very young looking Ezekiel Jones was shoved through wearing a set of faded jeans and a grey sweatshirt. Everyone's eyes were drawn down to the glinting metal that bound his hands together.

"Ezekiel Jones," the man said without turning. He had an overly posh English accent that had to be put on.

"Do I know you mate?" Jones asked, his eyes scanning the room and frowning at the complete lack of features.

"Not yet, but I'm sure we'll be good friends," the man in the dark suit said as he finally looked at Ezekiel.

"Sorry," the teenager scoffed, dropping insolently into one of the chairs. "It's not so bad in here that I'll stoop to that, but you know if it's ethnic you want Lucky Bai is into older men."

The man smirked a thin smile that made everyone uncomfortable and tossed the bright white envelope onto the table between them.

"This arrived for you. No address on it. It just appeared…like magic." Everyone watching flinched in surprise at his words but the Ezekiel Jones in the chair only gave him a mildly interested look.

"What is it? My pardon?" he asked.

"Sorry Ezekiel, your fence sold you out pretty solidly. There is no hope of a pardon in your future, especially after the last job you pulled. You are what the security services refer to as a high level risk."

"I am the best," the kid smirked. The magical audience all recognised it as a show covering his uneasiness. "I'll just have to remember to cut out the middleman next time." The man in the suit laughed.

"Next time. That's funny," he said. He pointed back at the envelope. "This is a very special envelope with a very special invitation inside," he explained.

"Invitation?" Jones asked. "They didn't notice where they delivered it to?"

"I don't think it cares about things like that."

"It?" Ezekiel frowned, his interest now caught, he reached out to take the envelope but the man dropped his fingers onto it and kept it just out of reach.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Ezekiel Jones," the man in the suit said, his voice dropping to just shy of threatening. "An opportunity not only for you but maybe for the entire Commonwealth."

"The Commonwealth?" Jones said incredulously, before his eyes lit up and he smirked again. He reached out and slid the envelope towards himself. "You want me to steal something for you, don't you mate? Don't you have highly trained agents who do these death defying sorts of jobs in...the Metropolitan Public Library in New York?" The teenager stared in confusion at the gold lettering and then up at the man in the suit.

"Trust me when I say this job will be the most enlightening and incredible job you or any thief has ever pulled off. If you do manage to pull it off that is," the man replied.

"I can pull off any job, but I won't be coming back here afterwards," Jones said, his voice completely serious.

"No," the man in the suit agreed. Ezekiel smiled and relaxed back in his chair.

"OK. I'll do it. What exactly is it that MI6 can't get out of a public library?"

They didn't get to hear the answer as the humming filled the air again and their sight was engulfed by the white light. This time when it cleared they were back in the Annex and the jewel fell with a thump to the ground, it's job complete. Everyone turned to stare at Ezekiel.

"Where was that?" Baird asked.

"How old were you?" Stone demanded.

Jones opened and shut his mouth a few times, but no sound came out and he stepped back from the group, his eyes flying between all their faces.

"You said you threw it out," Cassandra said quietly.

"I lied," Ezekiel replied, finally managing some words.

"The ledger said you didn't turn up," Baird reminded them.

"I came to the Library, I just didn't sign in to the interviews," he explained.

"You stole from the library?" Flynn suddenly roared. Cassandra squeaked in surprise and she and Stone were shoved out of the way as the senior Librarian flew at the thief. "No, no, impossible," he shouted. "No one breaks into the library, you have to be let in. But you! You had an invite so you _tricked_ the library?" His face was quickly turning red and he jerked back and forth inches from Ezekiel as if physically at war with himself. "What did you take?" He demanded. "What was it? How many people have been hurt because you let some magic out into the world that should have been locked away safe in here?"

"There was an entire bloody shopping list alright? And I got it all!" the thief shouted back angrily.

"No, no, no," Flynn repeated, turning away and pacing up and down. "Why haven't we noticed? Oh these people you work for are clever huh? Not using the artefacts openly so we wouldn't notice? What's their plan? What have they been doing?"

"I don't work for them," Ezekiel replied, his voice sounding smaller. "It was mostly books and I had fakes to swap out for some things."

"Fakes? Fakes!" Flynn exclaimed laughing almost hysterically. "The Library is ginormous and there are a mind boggling number of books so maybe, maybe, we wouldn't notice but the library would. Why didn't it say anything? An alert or a clipping? Aren't these the sorts of things you're supposed to tell your librarian about?" He shouted up at the ceiling before he dropped into a chair laughing and muttering quietly to himself.

"Did they let you go?" Cassandra asked, eyeing the senior Librarian nervously.

"You knew!" Flynn suddenly shouted again, jumping out of his chair before Ezekiel could answer Cassandra's question.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"In the museum in Cairo, you knew about the Library and magic and you still stole the jewels and unleashed the curse!" Flynn spat.

"Just because I knew magic was real didn't mean I believed every shouting crazy person who ran around telling people an evil mummy was about to come to life and attack," Ezekiel shouted back. "I didn't know you were _the_ Librarian."

"I did not… OK, maybe I was loud," Flynn replied. "But nobody was listening to me. That doesn't change anything, get out." He shoved Ezekiel hard in the chest and the younger man stumbled backwards towards the backdoor.

"What? Flynn!" Baird shouted, starting forward towards them.

"Get out," Flynn repeated, ignoring everyone else. He roughly input a location on the dial up machine, barely checking where it was besides a land mass and grabbed the door. "Out fiend. Deceiver. Thief," he ranted and with a final push Ezekiel Jones disappeared out the door and he slammed it shut just as Eve reached it.

"Flynn!" she cried out, whirling at him in shock. He didn't hear her, only aware of his own rage.

"Mr Carsen have you completely lost your senses?" Jenkins voice was like a slap and Flynn jumped out of his haze. The older man very rarely touched anyone, small pats and unreciprocated hugs the most he allowed, so Flynn was too surprised to resist when he was bodily lifted out of the way. Jenkins threw open the back door and was met with a dark alley in what sounded and smelled like Hong Kong. Ezekiel was nowhere in sight.

"Mr Jones?" He called out. "Ezekiel?" There was no answer.

"He can't have gone far I'll go look for him," Stone said and jogged out the door and down the alley.

The remaining team members all turned to their supposed leader. Flynn had slumped into a chair and had his petulant childish face on. Eve let out a deep breath and signalled to the others that she'd handle it. She walked calmly up to the chair he was sitting in and crouched down so they were face to face.

"Did you not see what the rest of us saw?" she asked him.

"Yes! He was-" Flynn said immediately, so distracted by his anger he wasn't picking up on Eve's usual clues that there was more to think about.

"In prison," Baird cut in firmly. Flynn's mouth clicked shut. "And that was not an ordinary juvenile prison Flynn," she continued. "Who the hell was that guy? Because he knew about the invitation and the Library." She allowed herself a small smile as she saw the wheels in Flynn's head start turning. "Ezekiel couldn't be more than _fourteen_ ," she continued. "And someone came along and offered him a way out. He didn't know about the Library or the Librarian, he didn't know us. He was just a kid." Flynn pouted but met her eye with something like embarrassment.

"I've never liked him," he said. Eve rolled her eyes.

"Yes, you've made that clear, but that doesn't mean you can ignore all the good he's done since he joined us." Flynn frowned and shook his head as if shaking the idea of Ezekiel doing good from his brain. Eve cupped her hands around his face and forced him to look her in the eye.

"He's one of us _now,"_ she said emphasising that what they'd seen was over a decade in the past.

"They're coming back," Cassandra called over happily. Eve looked up and saw Stone and Ezekiel strolling back down the alley, looking suspiciously like they were eating something.

"They have char siu bao," Cassandra said her voice becoming a mix of happiness and exasperation. Eve met Flynn's eye questioningly and he shrugged noncommittally. She'd take it. Flynn was so attached to the Library, it was stronger than a family bond, he felt any attack against it keenly and personally. She'd find a way to prove to him that, for better or worse, Jones was a member of that family too. The two men reached the door and Ezekiel wavered for a moment before Jenkins gave an impatient but smiling huff.

"I won't talk about it, yet," the young thief declared as they entered the Annex. "But I'll tell you what I took and where I think they all are now." Jenkins nodded in thanks. Cassandra bounded over and threw her arms around Ezekiel, Stone diving to save the box of food he was holding.

"Did you-" she started to ask.

"I'm not talking about it," the thief repeated.

"Did you get any chilli sauce?" she asked. He pulled a small tub out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she said smiling sweetly at him.

"Thank you," he replied almost shyly. He shifted from foot to foot as Baird walked over his eyes flicking from her to Flynn.

"You know, I think it let me take everything," he said loudly before she reached him.

"What did?" she asked.

"The Library," he clarified. "That day, I kept getting lost in the stacks but I always ended up right in front of the next item on my list." Flynn studiously kept his face turned away but they could tell he was listening.

"Why would it do that?" Cassandra asked. Jones gave a lopsided shrug.

"Maybe it knew what was coming and it wanted me to be free, so I'd be around to help with the Brotherhood. Like how we just happened to collect all the things we needed to get the Library back?" he suggested.

"Which we couldn't have done without you," she agreed. Flynn scoffed and Cassandra threw him a dirty look but Ezekiel sighed.

"I dunno, it's just an idea," he said. There was an awkward silence, then Flynn got up and walked out. The silence continued.

"Your Mum was well scary," Ezekiel said to Cassandra and like a bubble bursting the tension disappeared.

"Oh, God. I hate that you saw that," the red head moaned.

"Yeah," Stone agreed.

"What was wrong with your one? We barely saw anything," she asked.

Eve smiled at her little team, there would be plenty of storms ahead, but they'd get through. Her eyes traced the path Flynn had disappeared down her smile falling, she looked up and caught Jenkins' gaze, his face just as troubled as hers.

…..

 **Author's Note:** Ezekiel's time in MI6 has been mentioned a couple of times, so I'm hoping for a big reveal next season. I also have a funny feeling he's known about magic for a while before Flynn saved him in the first episode.

This'll probably be the last one for a while. I had another but I can't quite get it to work. If inspiration strikes I'll get it up.

Thank you again for all the great reviews. Please leave another and let me know what you thought of this one.


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